Microsoft feels the heat after Sun's win

A US federal judge has ruled that Microsoft must include the Java programming language of Sun Microsystems with the Windows operating system, handing Sun a victory in its private anti-trust case.

In granting a preliminary injunction sought by Sun, the judge forced Microsoft to confront what would be perhaps the most intrusive penalty yet to stem from court rulings that it broke federal anti-trust laws.

The judge, J. Frederick Motz of Federal District Court in Baltimore, also indicated that he would order Microsoft to stop shipping a version of Java that Sun contends damages the chances of its own version because it is outdated and creates confusion among programmers about which one to use for developing software.

"In the final analysis, the public interest in this case rests in assuring that free enterprise be genuinely free, untainted by the effects of anti-trust violations," Judge Motz wrote in his ruling.

Microsoft said it would appeal against the ruling.
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Sun's anti-trust lawsuit, which also seeks at least $US1 billion ($1.77 billion) in damages, is one of several before Judge Motz that have been filed in the wake of Microsoft's long-running anti-trust battle with the Federal Government and a coalition of state attorneys-general.

In that case, a federal appeals court found in 2001 that Microsoft had repeatedly broken anti-trust laws by undermining Sun's Java technology and Netscape's Web browser, which together could have evolved into a competitor to its Windows monopoly. Windows runs on about 90 per cent of the world's computers.

Judge Motz's decision appears to reflect a different opinion about the measures necessary to restore competition from that of Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who last month endorsed a settlement of the government suit.

Judge Kollar-Kotelly rejected a proposal by nine states dissenting from the settlement that would have required Microsoft to carry Java with Windows.

In asking for the injunction, Sun said that if it waited until its lawsuit against Microsoft was settled it would be too far behind to compete even if it prevailed.

Microsoft has developed technology known as .Net that competes with Java. Both programs are designed to let programmers write software that runs on many kinds of operating systems and platforms.

Judge Motz wrote that if Microsoft's system was to remain dominant, "it should be because of .Net's superior qualities, not because Microsoft leveraged its PC monopoly to create market conditions in which it is unfairly advantaged."

Legal experts said the ruling was particularly significant because, to issue a preliminary injunction ordering Microsoft to include a competitor's software with its own, the judge had to decide both that Sun was likely to succeed in the lawsuit and that it would face "irreparable harm" if the injunction were not issued.

"All I can say is we're disappointed with the ruling and still need to review the details of the court's decision," Jim Desler, a Microsoft spokesman, said.

Sun executives said the ruling would clear up confusion among software developers and spur innovation.

"There has been a cloud over much of what we do because of the fragmentation created by Microsoft," said Richard Green, vice-president for developer products at Sun. "This alleviates all of that. It is an enormous win for Sun and other members of the Java community."

While the ruling might be a legal milestone, some industry analysts said it would probably be too late to have a significant effect in the market.

In 1995, when Java became widely available, Sun hoped that web developers would use it to make Internet browsing a much richer, more interactive and useful experience for a wide range of users. But now it is largely used inside corporations for custom applications.

"Had Microsoft not undercut Java the way it did it would likely be more popular on desktops today," said David Smith, an analyst at Gartner Inc. "But now there are other alternatives. This is certainly a plus for Java and a negative for Microsoft, but the fact is you can't turn the clock back."